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Krafton Game Union

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Contents Krafton Inc. (trade name: Krafton Game Union) is a South Korean Krafton Inc.
Current events video game holding company based in Seongnam. It was founded by
Random article Bluehole on 5 November 2018 to better align itself and its subsidiaries
About Wikipedia under a unified brand.[1]
Contact us
Donate Contents [hide]
1 Subsidiaries
Contribute
1.1 Bluehole
Help
1.2 Pnix
Community portal Type Private
1.3 En Masse Entertainment
Recent changes Industry Video games
1.4 Delusion Studio
Upload file Founded 5 November 2018;
1.5 PUBG Corporation 19 months ago
Tools 1.6 Red Sahara Studio Headquarters Bundang-gu, Seongnam,
South Korea
What links here 2 Defunct subsidiaries
Key people Hyo-Seob Kim (CEO)
Related changes 2.1 L-Time Games
Chang Byung-gyu
Special pages 2.2 Maui Games (chairman)
Permanent link 2.3 Bluehole Squall Website krafton.com
Page information
3 References
Wikidata item
4 External links
Cite this page

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Subsidiaries [ edit ]
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Printable version Bluehole [ edit ]

Languages Bluehole Studio was founded in Seoul in March 2007 by Chang Byung-gyu.[2] Chang previously established
!"#$" Neowiz in 1997, along seven other co-founders, moved on to found search engine developer First Snow in 2005,
Español and sold that venture in 2006.[3] The company announced on 22 April 2015 that they had changed their name to
Français simply Bluehole.[4]
한국어
In August 2017, Chinese holding company Tencent announced that it had, following a rejected acquisition bid,
िहन्दी
invested an undisclosed amount of money into Bluehole.[5] Bluehole initially denied that any investment had
Bahasa Melayu
been made,[6] but later stated that they were in talks with Tencent in multiple partnerships, including the
Português
acquisition of an equity stake in Bluehole by Tencent.[7] Subsequently, Tencent acquired 1.5% of Bluehole for a
Русский
total of ₩70 billion.[8] Tencent reaffirmed their intents to fully acquire Bluehole in November 2017.[9][10] Korean
magazine The Korea Times suggested that an initial public offering, through which Bluehole would become a
7 more
public company, was "out of question" due to Chang Byung-gyu's position as chairman of both Bluehole and the
Edit links
Fourth Industrial Revolution committee.[11] At the time, 38 Communications, a company that tracks unlisted
Korean stocks, valued the company at ₩5.2 trillion.[12][13] Tencent plans to invest further ₩500 billion to acquire
further 10% ownership, raising their total stake to 11.5%[14] Through the acquisition, Tencent is set to become
Bluehole's second-largest single shareholder, following Chang Byung-gyu, Bluehole's founder and chairman,
who owns 20.6% of the company.[15]

Pnix [ edit ]
Pnix is a mobile game developer. The company was founded as Pnix Games in 2012.[16] Bluehole announced
that they had acquired Pnix Games, alongside Squall, on 22 April 2015.[4] Pnix Games changed their corporate
name to Bluehole Pnix in June 2016.

En Masse Entertainment [ edit ]

En Masse Entertainment is Krafton's North American publishing arm. The company was established as Bluehole
Interactive in June 2008. On 26 February 2010, the company announced that it had changed its corporate name
to En Masse Entertainment.[17]

Delusion Studio [ edit ]

Delusion Studio was founded in April 2011 and is headed by Kang Moon-chul.[18] On 22 June 2018, Bluehole
announced the acquisition of the studio.[19] Delusion developed mobile games such as Guardian Stone, Jellipo,
House of Mice and, most notably, Castle Burn.[20]

PUBG Corporation [ edit ]

PUBG Corporation (or PUBG Corp.), formerly Ginno Games, is an internal studio of Bluehole's that developed
one of the establishing battle royale games, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), based on user mods in
other games by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene and who was hired by PUBG to develop it into a full title. It
was announced that the company would be acquired by Bluehole on 27 January 2015, with the sale to close on
27 March that year.[21][22] At the time, Ginno Games employed 60 people.[22] Ginno Games changed their
corporate name to Bluehole Ginno Games in May 2015. Following the success of PUBG in 2017, Bluehole
Ginno Games was renamed PUBG Corporation in September 2017.[23]

A second office was established in Madison, Wisconsin in late 2017, with two further offices in Amsterdam and
Japan opened later.[24][25] On 12 March 2018, PUBG Corporation acquired New York-based studio MadGlory,
which was renamed PUBG MadGlory.[26]

Greene, having been based in the Seoul offices of PUBG Corp., left that division in March 2019 to lead a new
subsidiary, PUBG Special Projects, at the Amsterdam office, later renamed to PUBG Productions.[27] PUBG
Productions announced their first game Prologue at The Game Awards 2019 in December. Unrelated to
Battlegrounds, Prologue is called an exploration of gameplay and technology, and said "to give players unique
and memorable experiences, each and every time they play".[28]

In June 2019, a new studio called Striking Distance was opened in conjunction with Glen Schofield, the co-
founder of Sledgehammer Games. Striking Distance, headed by Schofield as chief executive officer, is set to
develop narrative-driven games based on PUBG.[29]

Red Sahara Studio [ edit ]

Red Sahara Studio is a mobile game developer headed by Lee Ji-hoon.[30] On 12 March 2018, Bluehole
completed the acquisition of the studio in a stock swap deal.[31] Red Sahara is developing a mobile game based
on TERA.[30]

Defunct subsidiaries [ edit ]

L-Time Games [ edit ]

L-Time Games was founded in June 2009.[32] The company attracted a ₩2 billion and a ₩5 billion investment
from Knet Investment Partners and IMM Investments, respectively.[33] L-Time Games was acquired by and
merged into Bluehole in January 2014.

Maui Games [ edit ]

Maui Games was a mobile game developer founded in 2013 by Woonghee Cho,[34] previously head of business
development for Neowiz.[35] Bluehole Studio announced on 16 January 2015 that they were acquiring the
company, which was completed in October that year.[34] At Bluehole's January 2017 shareholders' meeting, it
was decided that Maui Games would enter liquidation, which was effective immediately.[36] Nine staff members
of Maui Games, a fraction of that company's total employee count, were reemployed directly within Bluehole.[36]

Bluehole Squall [ edit ]

Bluehole Squall is a mobile game developer. The company was founded as Squall by Park Jin-seok, a founding
member of Neowiz, in 2013.[37] Bluehole announced that they had acquired Squall, alongside Pnix Games, on
22 April 2015.[4] Squall changed their corporate name to Bluehole Squall in March 2016. It was shut down by
Krafton Game Union after internal conflicts in 2020. [38]

References [ edit ]

1. ^ Young-won, Kim (5 November 2018). "Bluehole launches new brand for its subunits" . The Investor.
2. ^ Sung-won, Yoon (10 September 2017). " 'Past failures and endurance can make success' " . The Korea Times.
3. ^ Sung-won, Yoon (21 May 2017). " 'Serial entrepreneurs' pioneer IT industry" . The Korea Times.
4. ^ a b c 박소연, 기자 (22 April 2015). "Beulluhol, pinigseugeimjeu·seukol insulo mobailsijang jeongyeog jinchul" 블루홀, 피닉스게임즈
・스콜 인수로 모바일시장 전격 진출 [Bluehole enters into mobile market with acquisition of Phoenix Games]. ZDNet Korea (in
Korean).
5. ^ McAloon, Alissa (14 August 2017). "Report: Tencent invests in Battlegrounds dev Bluehole" . Gamasutra.
6. ^ Freeman, Will (15 August 2017). "Bluehole squashes Tencent investment rumour" . GamesIndustry.biz.
7. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (28 September 2017). "Bluehole confirms Tencent talks" . GamesIndustry.biz.
8. ^ Ji-young, Sohn (30 April 2018). "Tencent eyes investment in Bluehole, maker of hit video game 'Battlegrounds' " . The Korea
Herald.
9. ^ Dring, Christopher (9 November 2017). "Tencent still eyes acquisition of PUBG developer Bluehole - report" .
GamesIndustry.biz.
10. ^ MCV Staff (9 November 2017). "Tencent could yet acquire Bluehole" . MCV.
11. ^ Donnelly, Joe (9 November 2017). "Tencent seemingly still pursuing Bluehole takeover bid" . PC Gamer.
12. ^ Nakamura, Yuji; Kim, Sam (27 September 2017). "One Man's Journey From Welfare to World's Hottest Video Game" .
Bloomberg L.P.
13. ^ Khan, Asif (27 September 2017). "PUBG Developer Bluehole, Inc. Valued at Over $4 Billion" . Shacknews.
14. ^ Kerr, Chris (30 April 2018). "Report: Tencent could sink $470M into Battlegrounds dev Bluehole" . Gamasutra.
15. ^ Singletary, Charles Jr. (4 May 2018). "Tencent May Invest $470 Million To Become PUBG Dev's Second Largest
Shareholder" . Shacknews.
16. ^ 정재훈, 기자 (22 April 2015). "[Nyuseu] Beulluholseutyudio, 'beulluhol'lo samyeong byeongyeong...mobailgeimsa 2gos insu" [뉴
스] 블루홀스튜디오, '블루홀'로 사명 변경...모바일게임사 2곳 인수 [[News] Bluehole Studio changed its name to 'Bluehole' ...
Acquired two mobile game companies]. Inven (in Korean).
17. ^ IGN Staff (25 February 2010). "En Masse Entertainment Debuts as New MMO Game Company" . IGN.
18. ^ 허재민, 기자 (25 September 2017). "[Inteobyu] Mobail seutakeulaepeuteu? RTSui haegsim-eul damda, 'kaeseulbeon' inteobyu"
[인터뷰] 모바일 스타크래프트? RTS의 핵심을 담다, '캐슬번' 인터뷰 [[Interview] Mobile StarCraft? Interview with 'Castle Burn',
the heart of RTS]. Inven (in Korean).
19. ^ McAloon, Alissa (22 June 2018). "Bluehole to acquire mobile dev Delusion Studio" . Gamasutra.
20. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (22 June 2018). "Bluehole to acquire Delusion Studio" . GamesIndustry.biz.
21. ^ 이도원, 기자 (27 January 2015). "Beulluholseutyudio, 'debillieon' jinogeimjeu insu chujin" 블루홀스튜디오, '데빌리언' 지노게임즈 인
수 추진 [Bluehole Studio to acquire 'Devilian' Ginno Games]. ZDNet Korea (in Korean).
22. ^ a b 이, 대호 (27 January 2015). "Beulluhol, jinogeimjeu insu…haegsim injae hwagbo" 블루홀, 지노게임즈 인수…핵심 인재 확보
[Bluehole acquires Ginno Games ... Gain core talent]. Digital Daily (in Korean).
23. ^ O'Connor, Alice (29 September 2017). "Playerunknown's Battlegrounds studio becomes PUBG Corp. [updated]" . Rock,
Paper, Shotgun.
24. ^ Hall, Charlie (29 September 2017). "PUBG team will spin off as subsidiary company" . Polygon.
25. ^ Batchelor, James (23 January 2018). "PUBG Corp. to kick off 2018 expansion with new Amsterdam office" .
GamesIndustry.biz.
26. ^ Batchelor, James (12 March 2018). "PUBG Corp acquires MadGlory to enable community developer tools" .
GamesIndustry.biz.
27. ^ Batchelor, James (13 March 2019). "Brendan Greene leading new Special Projects division at PUBG Corp" .
GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
28. ^ Goslin, Austen (12 December 2019). "PlayerUnknown's next project, Prologue, announced" . Polygon. Retrieved
12 December 2019.
29. ^ Jones, Ali (26 June 2019). "Former COD exec joins PUBG developer to make narrative games "beyond battle royale" " .
PCGamesN.
30. ^ a b 남혁우, 기자 (12 March 2018). "Beulluhol, 'ledeusahalaseutyudio' insu wanlyo" 블루홀, '레드사하라스튜디오' 인수 완료
[Bluehole acquires 'Red Sahara Studio']. ZDNet Korea (in Korean).
31. ^ 김수진, 기자 (12 March 2018). "Beulluhol, 'bulmyeol-ui jeonsa' gaebalsa ledeusahalaseutyudio insu" 블루홀, '불멸의 전사' 개발사
레드사하라스튜디오 인수 [Bluehole acquires Red Sahara Studio, developer of 'Immortal Warrior']. Inven (in Korean).
32. ^ 김, 남규 (15 September 2011). "Sinsaeng gaebalsa eltaimgeimjeu, 25eog-won tuja yuchi" 신생 개발사 엘타임게임즈, 25억원 투자
유치 [New development company L-Time Games attracts 2.5 billion won investment]. DongA (in Korean).
33. ^ 전하나, 기자 (15 September 2011). "Sinsaeng gaebalsa eltaimgeimjeu, 25eog-won tuja yuchi" 신생 개발사 엘타임게임즈, 25억원
투자 유치 [New development company L-Time Games attracts 2.5 billion won investment]. ZDNet Korea (in Korean).
34. ^ a b 박소연, 기자 (16 October 2015). "Beulluhol, mobail geim gaebalsa 'mau-igeimjeu' insu" 블루홀, 모바일 게임 개발사 '마우이게임
즈' 인수 [Bluehole acquires Maui Games, a mobile game developer]. ZDNet Korea (in Korean).
35. ^ Williams, Mike (29 September 2017). "PUBG Corp Established To Handle All Things PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" .
USgamer.
36. ^ a b 임일곤, 기자 (20 January 2017). " 'Goppi joeneun' beulluhol…gyeyeolsa mau-i 1nyeonman-e cheongsan' " 고삐 죄는' 블루홀…
계열사 마우이 1년만에 청산 ['The Redemption' Bluehole ... Affiliate Maui liquidated in one year]. Business Watch (in
Korean).
37. ^ 이대호, 기자 (22 April 2015). "Beulluhol, mobailgeim sa-eob bongyeoghwa...gaebalsa 2gos insu" 블루홀, 모바일게임 사업 본격화...
개발사 2곳 인수 [Bluehole, mobile game business in full swing ... Acquired two development companies]. Digital Daily (in
Korean).
38. ^ https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2020&no=128299

External links [ edit ]

Official website

Categories: Bundang Companies based in Gyeonggi Province

Video game companies established in 2018 Video game companies of South Korea
Video game development companies 2018 establishments in South Korea

This page was last edited on 10 June 2020, at 15:53 (UTC).

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